Up the Albion

Mark Brailsford commends the team spirit

With transfer speculation hotting up again and players returning from injury, competition for places is getting more intense. This can only be a good thing from the coaching staff’s point of view, if a little uncomfortable for some of the players who have been in and out of the side of late. Take for example Ashley Barnes (and some fans have been crying out for someone to please, take Ashley Barnes!) but this tough young player has come through a trying time and kept his head, he then scored the all important equaliser in the replay against Wrexham that eventually led to the shoot out victory. Barnes has his critics and he does sometimes make some basic errors but he has shown great resilience and played well in the excellent victory against Peterborough. Well done to him.

The reason for pointing this out is to highlight the reasons for the Albion’s rather good season so far. With a team ravaged by injury and suspension, Gus Poyet has resisted blaming these factors for slip-ups in the league and his approach is paying off. There have been occasions where discipline has been an issue but these matters appear to be settling down in a way that does credit to Gus’ man management. Other managers may be tempted to lash out at the Fates and develop a persecution complex.

“He has shown great resilience and played well in the excellent victory”

Gus looked like he might be heading this way at some point, but his character as a manager is quick to adapt and learns fast, he has grown in the role and the team seems to be maturing with him. You only have to look at the way a team plays to see if the players respect their manager and Gus seems to have this quality in abundance. This is in contrast to The Emirates Stadium where Van Persie signalled his dissent to the dug out when Wenger made a substitution that displeased him. That kind of problem is symptomatic of fragile morale and a team of discontented players. Luckily for Albion fans, the Seagulls have a manager who learns fast and is a master at handling footballers. Two points off the play-off’s and above Palace in the League. I’d take that right now.

Penalty shootout

As this correspondent was working away in Dubai, I had the misfortune of trying to watch the game on the Internet. I found a site that showed the game after over an hour of searching and only the BBC website updates to keep me going. Finally, way past my bedtime, we get to penalties. Brezovan saves the first and I’m jumping around the hotel lobby. But then disaster! This is the point where the live feed was pulled and I couldn’t get the radio commentary.

By the time I’d got onto Seagulls World and had to go through what felt like 750 clicks to start the audio, I tuned in just in time to hear the dulcet tones of the commentator say, “and Brighton are through to the next round of the FA Cup”. Great, but such torture! This is a lesson here, whenever someone suggests watching football via the Internet – don’t go there, it’s too unreliable and likely to induce heart problems (see photo).